TERRAFORMING TERRA
We discuss and comment on the role agriculture will play in the containment of the CO2 problem and address protocols for terraforming the planet Earth.
A model farm template is imagined as the central methodology. A broad range of timely science news and other topics of interest are commented on.

Friday, March 2, 2018

More proof biodiversity reduces the need for chemicals

As i have posted already, modern harvesting technology allows us to establish cropping alleys that are two swathes wide allowing the harvester to run up one side and come down the other. All good.

That then leaves a wild strip in between each of these cropping alleys. They can be a healthy width of around twelve feet or so. This can be pl;anted with productive trees, fruit bushes and a complex ground cover easily able to get ample sunlight. Biodiversity is natural and multi cropping in terms of fruit and nuts quite easy.

Even better this design easily supports an important population of pollinators and commercial hives as well. .More proof biodiversity reduces the need for chemicals: Leaving strips of wildflowers across fields of crops reduces pesticide use

(Natural News) It’s a well-established fact that pesticides can have many adverse effects not just to humans but to the very crops that they are supposed to protect as well. And as far as current efforts to reduce pesticide use go, one of the known ways to do so involves planting wildflowers right around the perimeter of fields to sort of “cage in” pests that may otherwise decimate planted crops in the field.

However, as you can probably imagine, this method is not very effective, or at least not as effective as it should or could be, considering that the pest-combating wildflowers can only be found near the outside of fields while the inner parts are left open and exposed. With this in mind, a team of researchers from the Center for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) has now started a five-year-long trial that will look into the effects of planting bright wildflowersall throughout crop fields with the sole intention of boosting natural predators of pests and reducing pesticide use.

The wildflowers were planted in strips across 15 large arable lands in central and eastern England, according to a report, and will serve as the source of data that will show the effectiveness of the method in keeping crops healthy near the center of the field. This is evidently quite important, as one of the researchers plainly states, “If you imagine the size of a [ground beetle], it’s a bloody long walk to the middle of a field.” So if wildflower use is truly effective when implemented on the outer areas of crop fields, then it could also have similar effects when planted in the inside areas.

According to professor Richard Pywell from the CEH, the initial part of their tests involved planting strips of wildflowers about 100 meters apart from each other. It is said that this is just the right distance in order to allow predators to attack real pests such as aphids and other insects all throughout the field. The planted wildflowers include wild carrot, red clover, oxeye daisy, and common knapweed, according to a report.

Compared with previous setups, the new field trials include planting strips of wildflower that measure six meters wide and only take up around 2 percent of the total field area. The researchers will be keeping an eye on them are recording research notes through what is called a full rotation cycle — from the growth of winter wheat to oilseed rape to spring barley. And as the trials progress, the researchers will be on the lookout for signs indicate drawing wild insects into the central areas of the fields can only do more harm than good.

In previous studies, it has already been shown that planting wildflowers can help local bee populations to thrive. In particular, the U.S. Department of Agriculture once conducted a study that found a positive correlation between the planting of wildflowers and the growth of bees in so-called bee pastures. Taking that into consideration, it’s easy to understand how the researchers in this new study got their ideas.

If the study proves successful after the specified trial period in that the resulting increase in biodiversity took care of the problem of pests, then it could have major implications in the use of pesticides for farming. Ideally, the fewer pesticides used, the better. It will be interesting to see what kind of information becomes available from the study in five years.

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About Me

18 years old, having cleaned out my HS library, I concluded the only ambition worth having was becoming a great genius. An inner voice cheered. Yet it is my path I have shared much to the Human Gesalt. Mar 2017 - 4.56 Mil Pg Views, March 2013 - Posted my paper introducing CLOUD COSMOLOGY & NEUTRAL NEUTRINO described as the SPACE TIME PENDULUM. Sep 2010 -My essay titled A NEW METRIC WITH APPLICATIONS TO PHYSICS AND SOLVING CERTAIN HIGHER ORDERED DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS has been published in Physics Essays(AIP) June 2010 quarterly. 40 years ago I took an honors degree in applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo. My interest was Relativity and my last year there saw me complete a 900 level course under Hanno Rund on his work in Relativity. I continued researching new ideas and knowledge since that time and I have prepared a book for publication titled Paradigms Shift. I maintain my blog as a day book and research tool to retain data, record impressions, interpretations and to introduce new insights to readers.